Hussein Trial Erupts, and Expulsions Ensue

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 29 - The trial of Saddam Hussein erupted into chaos on Sunday, with the new chief judge ordering all four lead defendants removed from the courtroom -- one of them kicking and screaming as he went -- and tried in absentia, as the entire defense team walked out in protest.

The judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, made clear as soon as the trial reconvened after its monthlong recess that he would not tolerate the lengthy political diatribes by Mr. Hussein and one of his fellow defendants, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, that have dominated the sessions since they began, on Oct. 19.

Soon afterward Mr. Ibrahim, who twice called the court "a daughter of adultery" and refused to obey Judge Abdel-Rahman's commands, was dragged howling from the courtroom by four bailiffs. One of the lawyers, Saleh Armouti, instantly began yelling at the judge, and Mr. Armouti, too, was dragged out. Mr. Hussein then had a furious exchange with the judge, but walked out before the bailiffs could be ordered to remove him.

"Don't call yourself an Iraqi," Mr. Hussein yelled, after Judge Abdel-Rahman told him he would be ejected. "I've led you for 35 years and now you say, 'Remove him!' Shame on you, shame on you!"

The courtroom showdown raised the extraordinary prospect of a major war crimes trial being conducted without the lead defendants or their lawyers. Judge Abdel-Rahman warned the departing lawyers several times that they would not be allowed back once they left, and he promptly replaced them with a team of six court-appointed lawyers, who sat silently as the trial proceeded for three more hours.

The walkout suggested a deliberate defense strategy to give the tribunal the appearance of a show trial. On Sunday evening, Khalil Dulaimi, Mr. Hussein's lead lawyer, issued a call for the trial to be moved out of Iraq, saying the judge's decision to eject the lead defendants and their lawyers made a fair trial impossible.

"What happened today is a shameful moment in the history of the Iraqi judiciary," said Mr. Dulaimi, who added that the defense team would agree to return only if a list of conditions were met, all of them very unlikely, including a public apology to Mr. Armouti, the Jordanian lawyer who was removed from the courtroom.

The original defense team could be allowed to return to the case if they filed a formal legal request, said Raid Juhi, the chief investigative judge on the tribunal, who spoke to reporters after the court session. The four defendants could also be allowed back into the courtroom if they committed themselves to behaving properly, Judge Juhi added.

But Mr. Dulaimi's conditions made a return by the lawyers look unlikely. It also seemed unlikely that Judge Abdel-Rahman would change his mind after repeatedly warning the lawyers that he would not let them back in.

A trial without Saddam Hussein could be an embarrassment for the United States government, which has worked hard to help create a tribunal that would be perceived by Iraqis as independent and fair. The current trial, relating to the massacre of 148 Shiite men and boys in the village of Dujail in 1982, is the first of several that are planned, but it is expected to last through late May.

"War crimes trials are always messy, but they must meet international standards, and holding this trial in absentia would be extremely troubling to a lot of people," said Miranda Sissons, a senior associate at the International Center for Transitional Justice, a New York-based advocacy group, who is observing the trial.

Another troubling sign, Ms. Sissons noted, was the apparent passivity of the new court-appointed lawyers. They said nothing during three hours of testimony on Sunday afternoon, even as prosecutors and the judge peppered the witnesses with questions about the accusations that torture and executions had been ordered by Mr. Hussein and his lieutenants.

The original defense team threatened to boycott the trial in November, but relented after the former presiding judge, Rizgar Muhammad Amin, agreed to give the defendants more time to speak in the courtroom. In the weeks that followed, Mr. Hussein and Mr. Ibrahim often took charge, unleashing frequent broadsides against the tribunal and complaining that they had been ill treated.

Judge Amin resigned from the tribunal earlier this month, saying he was fed up with a torrent of criticism about his handling of the trial by high-level Iraqi officials. President Jalal Talabani and other Iraqi leaders tried unsuccessfully to persuade Judge Amin to reconsider, apparently hoping to avoid the impression that the judge had been forced out through political pressure.

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Judge Abdel-Rahman set a new tone as soon as the court came to order on Sunday morning.

"I can see that it is my duty to underline what Imam Ali said, that if your power has led you to oppress people, remember the judgment will be on you," he said, in a reference to the founding saint of Shiite Islam. Many of Mr. Hussein's victims were Shiites, though the judge is a Kurd.

But it was not until Mr. Ibrahim began talking that the judge made clear he would not accept any of the rants that have been so common in earlier sessions.

"Political speeches have no place in this courtroom," Judge Abdel-Rahman said. "You must abide by the rules. Any irrelevant remarks will be struck from the record, and anyone who breaks the rules will be removed from the courtroom and tried as if he were present."

Fifteen minutes later, after Mr. Ibrahim and Mr. Armouti had been dragged out, chaos overwhelmed the court. All the defendants and lawyers stood up, shouting furiously. Judge Abdel-Rahman banged his gavel and called for order, to no avail. The bailiffs moved around the room looking baffled; some spoke imploringly to Mr. Hussein, who talked back at them, his face an angry mask.

At one point the judge seemed to be defending himself. "I am honored to be an Iraqi," he said. "Why all this provocation?"

After the defense lawyers walked out, the chaos subsided, and Mr. Hussein took center stage, lecturing Judge Abdel-Rahman on law and politics. Then he noticed that six new court-appointed lawyers had appeared at the defense table.

"We reject you, and if you stay here you are evil people," Mr. Hussein said, staring angrily at the new lawyers.

That infuriated the judge, who soon ordered Mr. Hussein removed. Taken aback, the former dictator declared proudly, "I am asking to leave of my own will."

At that point Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former vice president and one of Mr. Hussein's most ruthless associates, stood up and shouted, "Me, too, your honor." Awad al-Bandar, who led the revolutionary court when it ordered the execution of the men from Dujail, also stood up, and Judge Abdel-Rahman soon ordered them removed as well.

Moments later, silence descended. The four remaining defendants are much lower-profile men from the Dujail area who are accused of playing roles in the massacre.

Judge Abdel-Rahman could easily have called a recess to allow Mr. Hussein and the others to hire new lawyers. Instead, he called the first witness of the day and the trial proceeded as if nothing had happened.

For the next three hours, witnesses described tortures and executions they witnessed in the wake of an assassination attempt on Mr. Hussein in Dujail. In stories that echoed those told by earlier witnesses, they described women and children tortured, men executed and a 2-year-old child placed in solitary confinement. Mr. Hussein and his three top associates were not there to hear the testimony.